Poll: Warp-Field Jumpgates

[Sand_Spider]

Forward: Special thanks to @Remnant for the original idea and confirming that something like this is possible via FLHook!

A TL;DR section is included at the end for lazy folks.

Warp-Field Jumpgates.
Think of a Jump Drive Mk IV. When used by a battleship or carrier to jump, all ships within 1,000m are warped alongside the "mother ship" and end up in the same section of space.
Warp-Field Jumpgates, on the surface, would function in much the same way. Instead of being dockable with, a Warp-Field Jumpgate would deploy a field with a 1,000m-1,500m range, ferrying all nearby ships to the other side of the Jumpgate connection.

Warp-Field Jumpgates, much like Jump Drives, would have a charge up time. Said charge up time would synchronize with the server's clock so that the Warp-Field Gate would trigger every X number of minutes. Ideally, between 10-15 minutes per Warp Field deployment.

As an additional feature, such a Gate could also be coded in a way so as to only function when X number of players are online.

But, why would we want something like this? The answer is thus: It would make high-risk, high-reward, legal non-ore trade routes possible and balanceable around the fact that players could not simply run such a route during off-hours.

Imagine the following: You pick up Commodity X for 5,000 credits a unit. Said commodity sells equally to any base in the game, save for one, for the same amount. Your destination, assuming maximum speed on a large transport, not factoring tradelane disruptions, takes a minimum of 10-15 minutes to reach.
Now, in order to reach your final destination, the one and only Jump connection leading to your final system is blocked by a Warp-Field Gate. Assuming you just missed the previous Warp-Field deployment, you must now sit within range of the gate for an additional 10-15 minutes.
Once you have waited and the Warp-Field is deployed, you spend an additional 2 minutes flying to your salepoint for Commodity X. After docking with Station X, you sell off your cargo for 20,000 per unit, leaving you with a tidy 15,000 credit profit per unit.

Sounds simple, right? Well, here's the kicker: That Warp-Field Gate only functions when 50+ people are online. This means that the chances of running into a pirate while en-route to your destination is reasonably moderate. When you factor in the time spent as a sitting duck waiting on a Warp-Field to deploy, your chances of seeing a pirate raise exponentially. When you've got hold of a commodity that sells for 20,000 per unit, you can bet your buns that pirates are going to want to steal that from you, leaving you at a pretty big loss since your cargo cost so much to begin with.

This will leave traders hauling said cargo with a choice: Hire security, or risk losing more money on the entire load being taken from them.

When you have traders hauling high value cargo, all through a single jump connection with a wait time, you have pirates. When you have pirates, you have bounty hunters, and possibly police and military. Oh, and mercenaries. Because who doesn't love a wild card?

Additionally, players will be faced with a choice when encountering pirates at the gate: Either stick around and wait for the Warp-Field to trigger (possibly bringing the pirate with them), or try to run, thereby possibly missing the next Warp-Field Jump, which will add a static, unavoidable 10-15 more minutes to their wait time.


It is my belief that introducing Warp-Field Jumpgates would allow for the introduction of permanent high-risk, high-reward legal trade routes, ones that could compete with or even out-pace ore routes. Said routes would likely benefit the in-game server environment, as they would force interactions between trader, pirate, and lawful defensive ship alike. Not to mention, they would not be exploitable by players who prefer to avoid interactions since such a trade route is only "live" when 50+ players are online.

As an additional safety measure towards preventing trade abuse/interaction avoidance, it's possible to prevent players from jumping into a system via blowing up those who try. This would prevent Jump Trading of Commodity X which nets a 15,000 credit per unit profit. Sorry folks, y'gotta run this route the ol' fashioned way.

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TL;DR (okay it's still a mini-wall but just bear with me)
*Warp-Field Jumpgates. They're undockable, static objects that deploy a warp field like Jump Drive Mk IVs do.
*Warp-Field Gates only deploy their warp field every 10-15 minutes.
*Warp-Field Gates function only when 50+ players are online (This is optional - Additional Warp-Field Gates could eschew this restriction when used as a part of less powerful trade routes or even non-trade connections.)
*Warp-Field Gate that leads into a new system that can only be reached via said Warp-Field Gate. Attempts to Jump Drive yourself into the system will either not function or result in instant death.
*Introduction of a high-risk, high-reward trade route utilizing a Warp-Field Gate. Example buy/sell prices: 5,000/unit buy, 20,000/unit sell.
*All bases but the intended destination will only pay 5,000/unit for the high-risk cargo.
*These Gates force a trader to sit in one spot, making them easily piratable.
*This in turn forces traders to hire security/seek escort, or risk losing a lot of money.
*Traders with high value cargo = Good piracy targets. More pirates = more bounty hunters/police/military presence in a given area, meaning more people interacting with each other. All of this added together nurtures in-game activity.
*It is possible to miss a Warp-Field deployment in the heat of combat, which would tack on an additional fixed amount of time to a transport's route.

Please note that the proposed numbers for buy and sell prices are simply in the draft phase. They are completely open to adjustments, and ultimately are up to the Trade Devs to finalize. That being said, I figured that these numbers are a decent starting point considering all of the factors involved in limiting trade route abuse.

As an addendum, maybe these would be better named as "Warp-Field Way Stations" since they're not truly gates to be docked with.

Oh and, I suppose that players could possibly become trapped in the system blocked off by the Warp-Field Gate. This could be remedied by simply having one end of the jump connection restricted via number of players online.

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[LaWey]

I think this is good idea for something like ageira supergate mechanics. Long range but with timing

[Unlucky_Soul]

I really like this Idea. Voted Yay.

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[TheShooter36]

I like the idea too

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[Foxglove]

Well, this could be something to consider if there ever is an actual Hyper Gate in the game.

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[Thyrzul]

How would these warp field gates affect the current economy? How would trade routes be balanced after implementing these?

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[Sand_Spider]

How would these warp field gates affect the current economy? How would trade routes be balanced after implementing these?

My hope is to have the first Warp-Field Gate to lead into an entirely new system, so as to avoid interfering with the current game's trade routes.

As far as balancing the route is concerned, I suppose it would be balanced around the fact that a key point in the route is impassible without X number of players online. Since you wouldn't be able to power trade this route during dead hours, such a route could be balanced around that fact, as well as the fact that it incorporates an entirely new system with no prior-existing trade routes.

Alternatively, someone mentioned Hyper-Gates. It could be possible to link two far-away systems using a gate like this, then limiting the Warp-Field Gate to the same ships affected by Jump Drive Mk IVs, or possibly even making the gate a fighter/freighter-only jump connection. The problem with such a route would be the fact that, say, a Jump Trading Bustard with 1,800 cargo space could then abuse the heck out of the route, since it would be jumping between two existing systems.

It's not that I'm against the concept of Jump Trading entirely, it's just that this particular concept is meant to encourage interactivity, rather than circumvent it. Jump Trading in its current form is lucrative enough, I reckon.

Edit: This concept might also encourage more folks to create pirate characters, which seem few and far between, these days. Tasty cargo means for tasty opportunities.

Edit #2: If a pair of Warp-Field Gates were to connect two existing systems, I would imagine them to be balanced to have far more average commodity prices for each direction of the trip i.e. standard cargo instead of high-risk/reward cargo. I'm not a Trade Developer however, so I'm only speculating, here.

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[Jessitrescott]

Can pirates jump too ?

Also like how would this work would the warpgate send some warning that its going to jump ?? in this case a transport could just sit at 15k then move in when the gate starts warping.

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[Sand_Spider]

Can pirates jump too ?

Also like how would this work would the warpgate send some warning that its going to jump ?? in this case a transport could just sit at 15k then move in when the gate starts warping.

Pirates would be able to jump as well, yes.

The gate isn't intended to broadcast a message to alert ships nearby that it's almost done charging. In fact, I hadn't thought of them broadcasting a message when a jump is initiated, either. If you miss it, you miss it, and you may never know it. Unless folks wanted there to be a message whenever the Warp Field deploys.

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[Jessitrescott]

Can pirates jump too ?

Also like how would this work would the warpgate send some warning that its going to jump ?? in this case a transport could just sit at 15k then move in when the gate starts warping.

Pirates would be able to jump as well, yes.

The gate isn't intended to broadcast a message to alert ships nearby that it's almost done charging. In fact, I hadn't thought of them broadcasting a message when a jump is initiated, either. If you miss it, you miss it, and you may never know it. Unless folks wanted there to be a message whenever the Warp Field deploys.

i can just jump to the othersystem as a pirate, camp near the spawnlocation and pirate pepole then f1 my ship there, rinse and repeat ?

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